The Exchange Student
by Sparrow Brown
Summary: "It will be okay Lovino." Feliciano said as he hugged his brother tightly. This trip was going to be the longest time he has ever spent away from his brother and he knew it was going to be hard on both of them. "I'll call every day and take lots of pictures just for you." He said happily as they pulled apart. (AU story)
1. Chapter 1

This story does take place in an alternative universe and human names are used. I hope you enjoy it and I'm sorry if the characters are ooc. Rated T just in case. Also keep in mind that I don't really know all that much about Italy, as in the country and its people. Nor do I know much about how exchange studies work either, so I'm kind of winging it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. This story was created simply for fan purposes only.

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Prologue

The small bedroom was a mess. A dirty pile of clothes lay overflowing from a hamper. The bed wasn't made up and had pillows slipping downward toward the floor. Paints were laid out on a small wooden desk along with half finished sketches and an empty cola bottle. The only window in the room was wide open, letting some of the afternoon sun in along with the sound of people down below on the paved streets.

Ludwig's fingers twitched with the need to clean the little room. It felt so small, so cluttered the way it was now. However, he knew that he had been asked to come to Italy, to help his friend pack for his exchange study in America. And due to the fact that Feliciano was currently running back and forth from the kitchen to his bedroom to fill his suitcase with pasta noodles. It was quiet obvious that yes, Feliciano did indeed need help.

Ludwig knew that this would only end up with him going home with a headache. Especially when Feliciano came back into the room with tomatoes in each of his hands and a silly grin was on his face as his green eyes closed with blissful happiness. He uttered a soft "ve~," before he tried to stuff the tomatoes in a zip up pocket on the front of his red suitcase.

"Feliciano," Ludwig sighed frustration was clearly heard in his tone. "You cannot take fresh produce on the plane with you. It's illegal remember?"

"But Ludwig," Feliciano began to whine. "What if there are no tomatoes?"

Again Ludwig sighed. He seemed to sigh a lot in this boy's presence. Why the heck he was friends with Feliciano was a mystery he had yet to solve. So Ludwig just said, "I assure you they have tomatoes in, America."

Feliciano's slight frown became a wide happy grin once more as he shuffled back down the hall to the kitchen.

Today was going to be a very long day. Ludwig just knew that it was going to be a very, very, very long day.


	2. Chapter 2

This story does take place in an alternative universe and human names are used. I hope you enjoy it and I'm sorry if the characters are ooc. Rated T just in case. I decided on using Leon for Hong Kong's name. At least that is the name I will be using for now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. This story was created simply for fan purposes only.

-

Summer vacation had ended with bright hot sunlight and humid August air that made a person drip with perspiration when they stepped foot outside. At least even with the miserable weather conditions there was the knowledge that there was no school till after Labor Day. And when the day after Labor Day came, the morning sun shown bright as school children everywhere mourned for the sweet, precious, free days of summer vacation. They rolled out of bed with wishes of kind teachers and no homework assignments. Vacation was over and school was now back in session.

Alfred Jones had woken up to a loud blast of rock and roll music, which blared from his alarm clock on the bedside table. He rolled over towards it and muttered darkly under his breath, the alarm clock was just out of reach of his fingers. A small grin made its way to his lips when he was able to turn the nuisance off with a satisfying click of the snooze button. He buried himself back into his fluffy pillows, happy to let sleep pull him into the world of dreams once more.

It was at 6:23 a.m. that the smell of burnt food reached Alfred's nose. Seconds later the smoke detectors came blaring alive. Alfred sat up in fright. The smell of smoke and the sound of smoke detectors usually meant only one thing. Arthur had decided to cook. And whenever the man decided it would be nice to make Alfred and Leon a back to school breakfast, bad things were known to happen.

"It's alright." He heard Arthur shout from downstairs; his voice was muffled out as the smoke detectors continued to screech. "There's no need to panic. Everything's fine."

Now that the peace and quiet of the morning had been shattered, Alfred got up and out of bed. He opened his bedroom door thankful that Arthur had gotten everything under control as the smoke detectors turned off. "It's a good thing that we don't have sprinkles," Alfred thought. He was glad to be spared a morning shower due to burnt food.

Alfred shuffled over to the stairs. Leon stood at the bottom of the stairs already, his dark brown hair was ruffled from sleep and his clothes had been put on with haste, which had made them wrinkled. He looked up as Alfred approached him. His brown eyes held a small amount of worry over what was about to be fed to them.

"Pancakes or French Toast?" Alfred asked as he sleepily rubbed his own sandy blond haired head.

Leon simply shrugged. "I think it was pancakes."

"Smother them in syrup and smile?" Alfred asked with a cheesy grin.

Leon smiled. It was a small smile, but a smile all the same.

Together they entered the kitchen. Unease could clearly be read in their movements. Arthur walked about in the kitchen. He was pulling out plates and forks and lastly a maple leaf shaped syrup bottle. Matthew, Alfred's biological younger twin brother, had brought several bottles down from Canada. Matthew usually stayed for a couple weeks during the summer time with them in the United States.

In Alfred's and Matthew's younger years they had been orphaned. An accident had taken away both of their parents. They were left with no biologic family and were sent to live with their god-fathers. Alfred lived with Arthur; a greened eyed British man who claimed to know how to use magic. So far the only truly magical thing was Arthur's bad cooking and maybe his large eyebrows. Matthew however, lived with Francis a blond French man who opened a restaurant up in Canada, and was receiving good reviews daily for his cooking.

Alfred missed Matthew most of the time, but they had slowly gotten used to being apart. And Alfred had Leon for a little brother now too. Leon was Arthur's biologic child. Their relatedness could be seen with their large eyebrows, (though Leon's were not nearly as large as Arthur's). It seemed that the eyebrows were a Kirkland gene trait. Each and every one of Arthur's brothers had inherited them as well.

When it was affordable Leon and Arthur would take trips to China, to visit Leon's Mother's family. The boy had one uncle and many second cousins. Alfred would stay with Matthew and Francis when they went on their trips. He had gone once and that had been enough for him, besides Leon deserved the time to be with his family. As far as Alfred was concerned, either way he got tasty food, which more often than not made him happy.

Alfred and Leon sat at the maple wood table. Three tall glasses of orange juice were already set down on the green cloth place mats. "Well there was a slight accident." Arthur said as put two plates down in front of them before he went back to the kitchen to get his own plate.

Alfred smiled. Usually he decided not to pick on Arthur on the first day back to school but he just could not resist asking, "Yeah, did something burn?"

"Oh. It was nothing big," Arthur said when he returned to the dining room. "There was a piece of food stuck under the burner."

When food did get trapped under the burner and they didn't take it out, it would produce an awful burning smell when Arthur cooked. Alfred did not think that was the case this time, since his pancakes looked blackened and his scrambled eggs browned. At least the eggs seemed edible. "Bring on the syrup," he thought to himself, "Lots and lots of syrup."


	3. Chapter 3

This story does take place in an alternative universe and human names are used. I hope you enjoy it and I'm sorry if the characters are ooc. Rated T just in case.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. This story was created simply for fan purposes only.

* * *

Feliciano had exited the plane and walked down the chilled terminal. The scent of cheap airport coffee wavered up to his nose and the sounds of a computerized voice spoke multiple languages on the P.A system as he looked for the luggage carousels. It was when he got there that he met his host family. They themselves were not American born and raised, but their English was good and they seemed like kind, good people. The man had brunette hair with purplish-blue eyes that were hidden behind a pair of square frames. This aristocratic looking man introduced himself as Roderich Edelstein and his fiancé of a year as Elizaveta Héderváry. Elizaveta had light brown wavy hair with a flower clipped into it and friendly looking green eyes. Feliciano felt like he was in good hands.

They waited patiently for the luggage to arrive. What would have been silence was filled with Feliciano's chatter as he excitedly asked questions to them. When the bright red suitcase came into view, Elizaveta swiftly grabbed the suitcase before either of the two men could move.

"So strong," Feliciano thought. He had filled the suitcase as much as he could and Ludwig had taken the time to carefully go through it and organize it, which left Feliciano with even more room to put stuff into it. In the end Feliciano's older brother Lovino, had to lift it up with the help of the taxi driver to get the suitcase into the taxi. Lovino had grumbled and swore under his breath the entire time.

"What the hell did you pack?" Lovino had asked him when they both sat in the taxi. Lovino's shoulders were slumped forward in exhaustion from the ordeal. Feliciano had smiled at him and patted one of his shoulders. "Nothing much" was all he said, Lovino sighed loudly. "Nothing much," Lovino muttered sarcastically.

They had a tearful goodbye, though Lovino readily refused his tears as he buried his nose in his brother's reddish brunette hair. "It will be okay, Lovino." Feliciano said as he hugged his brother tightly. This trip was going to be the longest time he had ever spent away from his brother and he knew it was going to be hard on both of them. "I'll call every day and take lots of pictures just for you." He said happily as they pulled apart.

Lovino smiled. "You don't have to call everyday- I mean call enough so I know your alive." Lovino inhaled sharply as he wiped at his teary hazel eyes, "Make sure you eat right. I don't want you coming back looking macho or fat, got it?" He knew what Americans put in their greasy food. Well, hormones, dyes, and pesticides started at beginning of the list.

"Okay." Feliciano replied.

Lovino gave him a serious a look to make sure his brother listened to him when he said, "And be careful." It wasn't like he cared for his brother too much. He just wanted his little brother to come back in one whole piece that was not crying. Feliciano after all had a bad habit of spacing out at times and was a bit too friendly to people that could care less about him. Lovino sighed. So much could go wrong on this trip.

"Don't worry Lovino everything will be just fine." Feliciano said as he walked towards the lady that waited to take him to the waiting area for his flight. It was when he waved behind him saying, "Goodbye Lovino. I lo-" that he tripped over his own shoes. "I'm fine." He said as he waved off his brother who had taken a step forward, his arms spread in a gesture that would be too late to catch him.

Lovino brought his hands back to his sides. He listened as his brother's chatter disappeared around the bend and watched as the big bobbing curl on his brother's head went out of sight. He felt tears prickle in his eyes. He was going to miss Feliciano, even if he did not admit it. And no there was not tears running down his face. It was all just your imagination.


	4. Chapter 4

This story does take place in an alternative universe and human names are used. I hope you enjoy it and I'm sorry if the characters are ooc. Rated T just in case.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. This story was created simply for fan purposes only.

Alfred sat in the front seat. His fingers were stretched out to turn on the radio, but Arthur swatted his hand away. "It's too early." He said as he backed out of the garage. Alfred whined slightly, saying something like, "Dude, it's never too early for Rock and Roll." Arthur ignored him and drove off down the street.

They would go to the middle school to drop Leon off first, since the middle school was on the way to the high school. Arthur asked Leon, "Do you have your backpack? Do you have all your pencils? What about the loose leaf paper? Notebooks?"

Arthur watched in the rear view mirror as Leon nodded a yes. "The tissue boxes for your homeroom?" He asked Leon. Arthur had not enjoyed shopping for the tissue. It just seemed like something a school should provide for the students and staff. Not only did he have to buy a box of tissue, he had to buy four boxes. He even had to buy tissues for Alfred's high school too. It was one of the most expense items on their schools' supplies lists.

Leon knocked his knuckles on the four pack tissue boxes next to him. Arthur smiled when he heard the sound. He was pleased with the fact that Leon had remembered this time. Last year Leon's fifth grade teacher had actually called Arthur to ask why his son had not brought in his boxes of tissues. Needless to say, when the phone call had ended Arthur had muttered on and on about how rude the woman had been.

"At least I do not have to buy cookies and crackers this year." Arthur thought to himself as he pulled up into a long waiting line to the middle school's front doors.

"Ready then?" Arthur asked as he turned around in his seat slightly so he could see Leon who sat in the back row.

"Yes," Leon said. His hand was already gripping the door handle. He had slipped his red backpack on his shoulders so he could get out as fast as possible.

"You will be fine." Arthur said when he noticed the sleep deprived black bags under Leon's eyes. So Leon had worried about starting middle school even if he never admitted it to Arthur when Arthur had asked multiple times over the course of summer vacation.

"Like don't worry Dad." Leon began to say and then add, "I got this." Leon had thrown Arthur a smirk that appeared rather satisfying over his shoulder before he opened the car door and took off towards the building. Arthur didn't move the car yet. He wanted to make sure that Leon got inside the school first.

"Yeah, Arty," Alfred chimed in as they watched Leon walk into the building. "He's got this."

"And I suppose you're ready for school too." Arthur said as he drove off towards the high school.

Alfred groaned in displeasure. "No one wants to go to school, Arty."

"I liked school." Arthur said. The teen looked at him like he was crazy. "Yeah, well your weird Arty."

"Don't call me Arty." Arthur said and then added, "And for calling me weird... I hope you're ready for school." With that said they entered the school's parking lot.

When Alfred noticed that Arthur had parked the car in the visitor's parking lot he started to protest. "Arthur you don't have to walk me to my locker. Come on, you didn't even walk Leon to the front doors. Arthur!" He whined.

This would end with embarrassment. Alfred just knew Arthur was going to embarrass him. "Alfred," Arthur said with a sigh. "We went into Leon's school before hand. Remember? We found his locker and he memorized his combination. We found his classes too."

"Well, yeah. Of course I remember that. I just don't want you to come in." Alfred continued to whine.

"Alfred enough whining." Arthur reprimanded. "Besides do you know where your locker is?"

Alfred was silent.

Arthur took that as a no. "Your classes?" He asked the blue eyed teen.

Silence was his only answer. "We're going in." Arthur said.

Alfred huffed and replied with a grumbled out, "fine."


	5. Chapter 5

This story does take place in an alternative universe and human names are used. I hope you enjoy it and I'm sorry if the characters are ooc. Rated T just in case.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. This story was created simply for fan purposes only.

Feliciano woke up under a deep blue colored comforter, he felt excited. Today was the first day of school. He still didn't know if it was a good thing that he started the same day as the rest of the students or bad a thing. He just knew that today was going to be an adventure. The covers were thrown off and onto the floor in his haste to get ready for the day; he walked over to the closet that would house his clothes for the duration of his stay. He dressed and then had a warm breakfast with his host family before he finished getting ready.

Elizaveta waved from the fronts steps leading up to the brick house they lived in. Feliciano waved at her from the front seat as Roderich drove down the street and turned to the left as he took them to the high school. The teen had not stopped smiling since they picked him up at the airport yesterday afternoon. He did not even appear tired from his long flight.

The boy seemed cheerful as he hummed a tune under his breath. His tomato themed backpack was squeezed tightly towards his chest as he watched the scenery. They drove past green grassy yards that were common in the upper Midwest of America. Kids walked down the gray concrete sidewalks. Some of the children scooted lazily on scooters, while some rode their small child sized bikes. The trees were still green and full of leaves, autumn would turn the leaves into festive fall colors as September ended and October began.

Feliciano was enjoying himself so far. He felt slight longing for the comforts of his home and his brother's noisy swearing as they prepared for the day ahead of them. School was going to be fun though; he just knew that he would meet nice people. "Maybe they would even be as nice as Ludwig." He thought to himself. It would be nice to have even more friends.

Roderich pulled into the faculty parking spot at the back of the school. They got out of the stylish yet practical and most importantly affordable dark blue car. Roderich greeted some of the teachers who had shown up at the same time as them. He opened the brown painted metal door and held it opened as Feliciano entered.

"This is the ground floor," Roderich began. "You will find that all math classes as well as science classes are on this floor." He started to lead the teen through the school. "The next floor up on the first floor has the front office, where if you ever need any help it is a good place to ask questions. The cafeteria and many of the extracurricular class can be found there. My office is placed on the first floor across from the choir room. Which reminds me, make sure you call me Mr. Edelstein while we are in the school."

Feliciano turned to him and nodded. He gave a small salute with his answer of, "Yes, Sir."

They passed a pair of double wooden doors as they neared the steps to the first floor, which reminded Roderich to add, "The gym is also on this floor. You will find the boys' locker room on the other side."

How could Roderich have forgotten about gym classes? Most of his students came into his classroom moaning and groaning on the days they had gym class. Roderich did not feel envious for the small teen and was thankful that he wasn't one of his students.

Roderich cleared his throat, "On the second floor you will find the English classes and Social Arts classes. Any questions?"

"Vee~" Feliciano said before he asked, "Do they serve pasta for lunch?"

"Pasta..." Roderich thoughts paused for a moment. The boy would most likely dislike the food served in the cafeteria. Roderich himself brought his own lunch from home. He had only had the school's food a couple of times. He did try the pasta once. He still remembered the giant greasy meatball that rolled on top of the short and puffy spaghetti noodles that were covered in pizza sauce.

The Italian boy would more than likely frown at such a dish. Roderich had frowned at the meal. The only good part about the meal was the small bowl of vanilla pudding that was meant for desert. Roderich sighed as he answered with, "Yes, they have pasta."

Feliciano smiled his eyes closed with bliss. "Pasta~" He said holding out the word for a few seconds. Roderich simply looked down at the teen hoping that he wouldn't be too disappointment when he saw the pasta. Other than that the man continued to lead the teen towards the front office.


End file.
